Master of Incredulity

Okay, I have some things to get off my chest.  Usually I am pretty laid back and just sit back and read what other excellent football minds on this site have written.  Occasionally I write a post and discuss football if something is really important to me or is bugging me.  Such is the case with this post.  I am the first to admit I was an extreme critic of Herman Edwards when he was the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.  My problems with Herm lay in the fact that Herm's offensive philosophy was win the game with defense.  That is a noble thought, desire, ambition, or whatever you want to call it.  Winning a game 9-6 is just as good as a game won by the score of 42-7. A win is a win.  In today's NFL keeping the score close and hoping to deliver a knockout punch late in the game is largely wishful thinking.  I am not going to beat the dead horse of Herman Edward's coaching career with this post however.

With the hiring of Todd Haley as the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs and his past experience as an offensive coordinator, I was of the opinion that it was just a matter of time before the Chiefs would have an offense which could put some points on the board and "run with the big dogs".  Enter Matt Cassel and various other offensive players over the next couple of years. I was virtually certain the offense was on the verge of taking off and being able to outscore our opponents if the Chiefs were to become involved in an offensive shoot out with other teams late in the season for "must win" games.  

Well we have just come off of two "must win" games if the Chiefs were to continue their winning ways and to have a decent shot at the playoffs with the toughest part of the schedule coming up.  How did we do?  Uhhhhhhhhhh............not so well.  In the last two games our offense has scored a total of 13 points and we lost both games.  At this point, it is looking a lot like another "maybe next year" season for the Chiefs.  The four wins in the month of October all had the Chiefs putting 20 plus points on the board.  Of course some of those points were scored by the defense, but it is readily apparent that scoring more points has a dramatic effect on the outcome of games.  Why, in the name of heaven can't our offense score more than 13 points in two very important games?  With the departure of Charlie Weiss from the team following last season, many predicted a drop in offensive production.  I was not one of those.  I felt with Haley's offensive experience, the offense would continue to grow and thrive especially with the addition of players like Jonathan Baldwin who I am certain will become a household name as a receiver.  I was wrong.  Todd Haley hired Bill Muir as the offensive coordinator.  I am unsure of the reasoning for Haley doing so (perhaps it was nothing more than dealing with a known entity) but this experiment has been an epic failure.  I do not believe Muir's inability to milk offensive production out of these guys is a function of age, I think it a function of non creativity.  I see more interesting thoughts on possible offensive sets, plays, and what not on Arrowhead Pride than I see on the field from Bill Muir's offense.  Perhaps Muir is playing his cards close to the vest in order to retain his job, but if that is the case, it is not working.  Poor offensive production is virtually certain to end Muir's reign as offensive coordinator at the end of this season.  If it does not, then there is something dreadfully wrong in the Chiefs organization.

  I was a big critic of Herm Edward's inability to make adjustments either during the game or during the season to his team.  I am currently of the opinion that the same is becoming true of the Haley offense.  A professional offense scored 3 points in our next to last game?  Are you kidding me?  That is a disgrace.  Against the Broncos, our defense was not great, but they played well enough to win the game.  What happened?  Our offense put up ten points against a team that threw the ball twice the entire game and only put up 17 points for the win.  Where were the adjustments?  None were made.  The more three and outs our offense has, the longer our defense has to be on the field and run the risk of tiring and getting blown out.  If our defense holds and gives the ball back to our offense we simply cannot afford to have the offense go three and out and put our defense right back on the field.  Haley keeps spewing some great sounding rhetoric, but at some point he has to take some action.  To date nothing of the sort has happened.  Matt Cassel has spent a great deal of his time running for his life, or lying on his back.  The play calling has been lackluster at best.  Players are not being utilized in a manner which plays to their strength.  Receivers are dropping passes, players are fumbling the ball.  Who is minding the store?  Anyone?   Apparently not. 

This offense is broken.  As a long suffering Chiefs fan, I want to know who is going to fix it.  Todd Haley seems strangely disinclined to do so.  Or at least I have seen no concrete evidence to suggest he is attempting to do so.  Somebody needs to take control of this offense and make it work.  If it is not accomplished for this season, then it surely needs to be started on so it can be a work in progress for next season.  I am not going to lay the blame for the offensive failure at the feet of the players on the field.  I am of the opinion that there is enough offensive talent on the Chiefs roster to put up some points and win some games.  In order to do so, it is going to take some creative thinking on the part of the coaching staff and someone taking control of this mess.  Bill Muir needs to go.  If not this season, then at the end of the season for sure.  If Bill Muir is retained at this point for the remainder of the season, then this season is fairly well written off.  It would send a big message if Todd Haley were to have the cojones to sack Bill Muir and take the reigns of the offense himself.  It would let everyone know he not only expects production, he demands it.